The Other Potter
by LunaInTheSky
Summary: What would happen if Harry hadn't been raised by Lily's horrible family? What if James had a relative who was a witch, and was more than willing to take him in? How would his life change? Harry is raised by Julia, James's cousin, and Remus.  not a couple
1. Halloween Night

It was Halloween night, 1981. Julia Potter lay on her couch, staring blankly at her ceiling. She thought of all her close friends and family she'drecently lost. She hadn't lost James and Lily, but for now, they were in hiding. Even though they'd only been gone a week, she missed them terribly.

James was her cousin, but they were as close as brother and sister. He'd been there when her parents and sister died, and she had there when his parents died.

He was one of her closet friends.

_He's safe now, _she told herself. _This is good. He, Lily and Harry will be fine. _

Harry. Sweet, innocent, baby Harry. Smiling at the memory of James holding Harry for the first time, trying not to cry, with Lily in the bed next to them, wiping away her own tears, she fell asleep right there, on her lumpy old couch.

A few hours later, Julia was shocked awake. Outside, she thought she heard bombs and yelling. She grabbed her wand and ran out into the street, anticipating an Death Eater attack.

Wizards and witches were shooting stars into the sky, hugging, and shouting to each other, "_He is gone! We are safe! He is gone!_"

There was only one 'He' who they could be talking about. Julia didn't dare believe it. Him, gone at last? She could have James back! And Lily! And Harry! _And James!_

She ran up to Fiona, an old friend from Hogwarts, (Well, _friend _is to strong a word. More like, Person-One-Year-Below-Whom-Julia-Tolerated). "Voldemort-" She ignored the shudder "-is gone? Fiona, he's really gone?"

But Fiona wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, she looked uncomfortable.

"Um, Julia, maybe you should sit down..."

So she sat down on the sidewalk.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Fiona took her hands, and they both tried to ignore the celebrations going on around them.

Fiona took a deep breath.

"Yes, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has gone."

Before Julia could smile, or shout her happiness, Fiona added,

"But, well James and Lily...It cost them..."

Julia felt all the color drain from her face. Her head was lighter than usual. She gripped Fiona's hands with such a force that she winced.

"Are they okay?"

Nothing.

"Fiona! Are they okay?"

She took another deep breath.

"No, they are not. James and Lily are... They're... Gone."

She couldn't believe it. _Not James too._

"Gone?"

"Gone... Forever."

The world was suddenly spinning much faster. Her parents... Her sister... James' mother and father... Now James and Lily and-

"Harry! Where's Harry? You didn't say anything about him!"

Fiona smiled ear to ear.

"He's alive! He beat You-Know-Who!"

Julia dropped her hands.

"Harry? He's only one! How did _he _beat Voldemort?"

Fiona picked up her glasses (She flinched terribly at Voldemort's name) and said,

"Nobody knows! But he did it!"

"Where is he?"

Fiona shrugged delightedly, sent her thin light brown hair flying to her back with her hands, and grinned.

"Probably with Dumbledore, or someone from the Ministry."

Julia stood up very fast- there was still hope, not everyone was gone, she still had someone to hold on to...

She reached the Apparation point, and set off for Hogsmeade.

She ran through the village, and through Hogwarts- everyone everywhere was celebrating. She got to the stone gargoyle and silently cursed. She didn't know the password.

But she wasn't outside long. Just as she was thinking about going for a teacher, the gargoyle lept aside and out walked a short Ministry woman.

She was a little fat, but very young; she might be an intern. She wore a lot of pink. He face was very toad-like, and when she saw Julia, she gave a very forced smile.

"I wouldn't go up there if I were you," she said in a voice so sweet, Julia knew she'd been kicked out of the room. "They're only talking about where to send a recently orphaned little boy." She searched Julia's face. "He looks very much like you."

Julia smiled sadly. "I'm his Aunt," she explained. She didn't feel like talking to this woman, but she stood on the middle of the first step, so she'd have to move so Julia could go up.

_If she doesn't shut it in the next five seconds, _Julia thought, _I'm shoving her into the wall. _

As though she read this thought, the toad lady gave another forced smile, and walked down the hall.

Julia ran up the steps as fast as her legs would carry her, though her heart ached to slump onto the floor and cry for days.

_Not yet, _she told herself. _First, I need Harry. I _need _him.  
_She stopped at the door and knocked as politely as she could muster.

An old man in a gray suit opened and started to say-

"I toldyou, Dolores, _busy yourself elsewhere! _This is-"

He looked at Julia for the first time.

"My apologies, madame. I thought you were someone else."

Julia could feel her body start to break down. Although as she was trying to deny it, the thought had hit her while she was running up the steps. She would never, ever see James again. Her brother was gone forever. And so was Lily, the only friend of hers that was a girl. The type of girl whom she could tolerate, and hang out with.

Dumbledore stood up in from behind his desk.

"Miss Potter. You've heard?" She felt herself nod. "I am extremely sorry. Truly, I am. I can understand that this is a very difficult time for you. But I take it you are not here to listen to an old man talk about death." Her throat was beginning to close. "Are you here for Harry?" He looked to a young women sitting at a chair next to his desk. She was another Ministry women, but looked much kinder. In her lap, was a sleeping one year-old with a mess of black hair just like Julia's.

Her throat was so tight, she might choke if she didn't open her mouth soon. So she did was every self-respecting women would do. She wailed loudly and ran to her nephew and took the baby boy, hiding her sobbing face in his hair. Julia cried as silently as she could, trying not to wake Harry. She wasn't aware how long she sat like that, but when she picker her head up, the sun had risen and someone had Magicked a glass of water next to her. The women was gone, but the man who opened the door remained.

"Are you his next-of-kin?" The Ministry man asked after she'd drank the entire glass of water.

Dumbledore spoke first. "No," he said. "The baby's mother had a sister. Julia was his fathers cousin."

The man nodded.

"Very well then. The boy will go to Mrs. Potter's sister."

Somewhere in the back of Julia's mind, she remembered Lily on the train ride to Hogwarts. 2nd year and on, (Julia hadn't sat with her First Year) every time, she was crying...

_Mary had her arm around Lily's shoulders. The red head was sobbing. Julia sit down on her other side._

"_Lily?" she asked. "Lily, what's wrong?"_

_After another few minutes of crying, Lily wasn't so sad. She was angry. She threw her long hair behind her shoulders and said,_

"_I have an dense, shallow sister!"_

_She went on to tell everyone about Petunia. She thought being a witch was a bad thing. That it meant Lily was abnormal. That she was off to Hogwarts to protect Muggles from her dangerous self._

"_My mom's a Muggle, my dad's a Wizard," Julia told her. "Maybe my mom could talk to Petunia?"_

_Lily shook her head. "No use," she said. "Petunia's to unlettered. She doesn't want to listen. She doesn't want to learn. She hate's magic."_

_She hates magic._

"She hates magic!" Julia burst out, making Harry stir slightly in her arms. "Petunia can't take him! He's a wizard!"

"How do you know of this?" The Ministry man asked. "I'm sure Miss Petunia won't mind. After all, it's her nephew."

Julia shook her head and tighted her grip on Harry protectively. "Petunia _hated _Lily! Jealous of her being a witch, I think! You can't send Harry to her, Dumbledore! She wont treat him right!"

Dumbledore was looking weary. "Why don't we meet with Petunia, and ask her if she will take her sisters son? We will tell her about him being a wizard. But, Miss Potter, you understand, if she agrees to take Harry, she gets him. You can't fight for him. Understood?" She nodded and hugged Harry close. "Thank you. Now, please, go home and get some rest. A lot has happened." She stood to go, and Dumbledore held out his arms. Reluctantly, Julia kissed her nephews forehead and handed Harry to her old Headmaster.

The trip home was a blur. But the next thing Julia knew, she was waking up on her couch with puffy red eyes. She knew she'd got home and cried for quite awhile, before falling into a fitful sleep. For a second, she wondered what woke her. And then, she heard another knock at her door. Not even stopping to brush out her hair, she went to answer it.

Dumbledore stood in front of her, with the same Ministry man. In the Headmasters arms was her last bit of hope. Her loveable nephew, Harry.

"May we come in?" asked Dumbledore. She nodded and held out her arms, Harry was placed gingerly in them.

Sitting in her living room, she listened to Dumbledore's story.

"We reached Petunia's home to find her alone with her own son. Her husband was at work. She immediately told us to leave, worried that the neighbors would see us, I think, and when we refused, she quickly ushered us inside. We told her about your cousin and her sister, and she looked extremely upset. She didn't say anything for several minutes-"

"And when she did," Interrupted the Ministry man, whom Julia forgotten was there, "She said, _'I always knew being a witch would do her in - just like it did my parents!' _The nerve!" he cried.

"And when we asked if she would take in her nephew," Dumbledore continued, as though the Ministry man hadn't spoken, she told us-"

"She told us she had her own family and didn't want a _wizard_ messing it up! Oh that _horrible _woman!" The Ministry man was looking extremely angry. "That fat son of hers- oh, Miss Potter, you should've seen him! He's like a _pig_!"

Julia grinned. It wasn't hard to, she knew what this meant.

"So I get Harry?" She asked. Dumbledore beamed.

"Yes, he's in your care now."

She smiled down at the baby in her arms, with his mop of black hair and startlingly green eyes, the only part of James and Lily she would get to keep for herself.

**Um... Yes? No? Good? Bad? Let me know!:D**


	2. Remus

Julia Potter grabbed her small leather purse, fixed her hair the best she could, and tried to ignore the crying of the baby in the next room.

"I'll be in there in a second, Harry. Please be happy, we're going to see _Uncle Remus_ today!" She threw the words over her shoulder and smiled and his temporary quiet at the sound of Remus's name. Of course, he didn't understand most of what she said, being one year old, but Julia thought it best to speak to him as though he could.

It's what his mother used to do, after all.

She entered the rom they shared and lifted him out of the crib, pushing back his bangs. She couldn't help it, it was still so weird to her.

There it was. Still pinkish-red and raw, a brand new terrible scar shaped like lightning bolt. It showed his own little battle with death at such a young age, and it was forming a small bruise around the sides.

"Maybe we'll see if there's anything we can do for that, huh?" she said quietly, knowing that their wasn't anything to be done for a scar of a killing curse. Besides, she was more concerned with how they would leave the house. Reporters were knocking down her door day and night, trying to get pictures, or interviews, or autographs. Yes, they wanted Harry's _autograph. _

Then, she spotted the fireplace. "Foo powder today, ya' think?" she asked him. He didn't look at her.

Though Harry was only one, he still knew that he hadn't seen his mother or father for two days, and that he couldn't remember them saying anything to him, or remember them handing him over to his aunt. Julia had no idea a babies greif could be worse than hers.

Moments later, she was standing in Remus Lupins living room, dusting the ashes off of herself and her newfew. He shook out his hair like a dog, and Julia laughed, until it reminded her of Sirius Black, and she could feel her face getting warm with anger. "Stop it, Harry. Dogs are bad," and she set him down on the floor. "I'll go get him, _don't move." _

As Harry is an unusually good baby boy, he didn't move. She walked down the narrow hallway, ignoring the water stains on the ceiling and walls.

"Remus? It's me," she knocked on his bedroom door.

She was answered by a groan and footsteps, before the door was yanked open. His apartment is rather cheap, and it took a few tries to get the door open.

"Sorry," Remus said sleepily, "It jams." he examined Julia, grunted slightly, and ushered her into the bedroom. "Where's Harry? Do you _know_ what time it is?"

Julia realized for the first time, she hadn't looked at a clock all morning.

"I don't know, sorry-" she started, and Remus looked up sharply, now wide awake.

"You don't know what where he is?"

She reached forward and touched his shoulder, "Remus, he's in the living room. I don't know the _time._"

Remus sighed his relief and shook off her hand, -honestly, they broke up a year ago, you'd think he'd grown by now- and went to go get Harry.

Julia sat down on his bed, examining the torn, stained sheets. One of the bed posts was cracked. She noticed for the first time there was no light bulb in the room, only a few low candles. Remus also had a Muggle parent, so Julia had just assumed he'd have mixed the cultures, like she did. As the candles weren't lit, the only light in the room was coming from a very dirty window, with now curtains or drapes or blinds.

Julia made her desision then and there. She didn't care if he didn't want to, it was happening. If not for her sake, for Harry's.

Remus returned, gave the baby to his aunt, while grumbling that it was only seven AM, and began to get ready.

After his shower his mood adjusted, and they sat at his rickety table and ate toast – with no butter or syrup. Harry sat in a high chair, trying to swallow old cerial (without milk).

He looked at her appologicitly.

"Sorry, it's been a little hard to find a job recently," he said, tapping his stone-hard toast on the table.

"Remus, it's always hard for you to find a job," he looked highly affronted, but Julia cut him off.

"Not to say you don't try; I know you do. But you are what you are. And... And I want to help. I need a new house anyway, mine is far to small for Harry and I both-"

And the werewolf's rain of protests began.

"Absolutley not, I couldn't dare-"

"Remus, you _have to-_"

"I don't _have to_ do anything-"

"Yes, you do, you have to come live with us-"

"I'm a-"

"Wonderful person! You-"

"_Monster! _I'm a monster, and I refuse to be that close to a child that often!"

Julia pulled a sad – not a _puppy dog _face,because she now loathed dogs – face and pleaded,

"Remus, Harry needs a father figure."

"Ask someone else." he stared at the wall behind her.

"Like who? Peter? _Sirius_?"

He glared at her coldly, and she looked at the table, not being able to look him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't talk about them. But I think you're forgeting something." Now she looked up at him.

"You lost your best friends that night, I lost my cousin, and my best friends.

But Harry lost his _parents._"

Remus looked at the little boy, who was now trying to stack his cerial into a tower, and failing misrably. Harry looked up and saw his uncle watching him and smiled.

"_Remmy," _ he said.

"Uncle Remmy," Remus corrected, allowing himself to smile. He looked back at his old school friend.

"What'll I do on full moons? They'll be hard enough, without..." he fell into silence.

"We'll work something out, trust me." Julia leaned forward. "Well?"

He stood, and lefted Harry out of the high chair.

"Alright. I'll help you raise Harry. Now, lets go get some real food."

Julia smiled.

It was the closest thing to a little family Harry would ever know.


	3. House Shopping

"But if we choose here, Remus, we'd be close to other wizarding families-"

"What, you want him exposed to how famous he is? I think we're better off somewhere like London-"

"And there are no wizards in London? What about somewhere near the country, maybe forget England altogether, go to _Ireland _or _Scottland_-"

"You know what, Julia? I don't really care, so long as I have somewhere safe to- so I can, um, -"

"That's true, huh? So not the city then? That could go badly-"

"Gee, you think?"

"But I still think we should still be close to _some _wizarding familes, that way he doesn't go to Hogwarts without knowing anyone-"

"Julia, I think you're forgetting how famous he is! He's _Harry Freaking Potter-_"

"Oh, not you too! Remus-"

"You know what I mean!"

The poor real estate agent, who was there only to help, sat behind her desk, torn between interferring and waiting to see where this went. Her eyes were traveling back and forth between the two adults as though at a tennis match. Her map of England Wizarding Communites had been poked and prodded so many times now, with wands and fingers alike, it was getting small punctures. This made her worried, because she only had one, and it was written in fine calligraphy in emrald ink. She liked this one-of-a-kind map very much.

"You know what, no, I change my mind-"

"Not this again! I _told _you, you're living with us, like it or not!"

"Stop telling me what to do! You're not my mother!"  
"_Remus John Lupin_!" He shrank down, knowing his first love was serious.

"Listen to me! You are _going_ to live with me and Harry, and YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT!" Standing up, Julia slammed her hands down on the desk.

Only, she was holding her wand. And sparks flew from the end of it. (not her fault, Remus is so dense sometimes...)

The map on the desk caught fire, and Julia put it out with a quick "_Aquamenti!"_

To late, though. The map was ruined, now by fire _and _water.

The real estate agent finally stood from her expensive velvity office chair. So suddenly, in fact, it rolled quickly backward and hit the wall, denting it slighty.

"HOW OLD _ARE _YOU TWO?" She shouted, making Julia jump back into her seat.

"YOU'RE ACTING LIKE CHILDREN!"

"She started it!" Remus pointed his finger at Julia, who swatted it away.

The agent was very purple in the face, and her eyes were popping out of her head.

"OUT!" She roared, pointing her wand threatingly and Julia grabbed Remus by the elbow roughly and booked it.

"Okay, if we managed to get kicked out of TWO different real estate agents' offices, maybe we should do this by ourselves." Remus said outside the building, rubbing his elbow.

"It's not my fault, you keep bringing up that you don't even want to live with me and-"

"Julia!" Remus put a hand up, haulting her argument. "_That _is the issue here. We can't agree on anything, because we keep fighting about living in the same house. If we can't agree on at least a location, how are we suposed to raise a child together?"

He was staring at her the way he used to, in their school days, when what he was saying came from his heart and was reaching hers all over. It made her feel warm and fuzzy, and Julia almost leaned in for a kiss...

Before realizing that they broke up years ago, the man who got them together was dead, and she had just lost an argument with him for the first time in years.

"I- I guess so." She looked around nervously, her head now stuck in sixth year. "Wanna just head back to my- _our_ place? We can choose a place on our own, alone." He nodded, and they headed off to find a safe spot to dissaparate.

"Okay, this is _my_ pick."

It was a few days later, and Julia and Remus had decided they would visit each others top picks of neighborhoods, and choose a home from the two. Their old school friend, Mary McDonald, was watching baby Harry. It was Julia's turn to show Remus her pick (his was a flat in Northern Ireland, veery spacey but very... bleek.)

"It's lovely," he said, smiling at her.

Indeed it was. A lot of fields, with houses dotted every so often, and only a few.

Julia started to walk, and Remus followed. "It's mostly wizard families, and I was here last week, some of them are very kind. It isn't very costly either." She had made up her mind long ago that was wasn't dipping into the so-called "Potter Fortune" for this. It was all on her.

"I like it... Where are we, exactly?"

"Ottery St. Catchpole, it's in Devon, England. Look, it even has a little forest... Oh, Remus, I love this place!" She swung out her arms, and turned around to him, dropping them at her sides. "So what do _you _think?"

"I think... Well, where would our house be?"

"Our lot is over here," she said, grabbing his wrist and twisting. After that horrible sucked-into-a-vaccum feeling, she opened her eyes.

Thy were at a lot not far from where they'd been, at a huge lot with only much grass and a brown rickety picket fence.

"Where's the house?" Remus said, stepping forward and walking into the bare would-be home.

She smiled. This was the best part. "We make it. So it will be perfect."

He did a 360 degree glance around the lot, and turned back to Julia, unable to hide a grin.

"Well Julia, if there was one thing you were best at, it was one-upping me... This is our new home."

She gave a shout of excitement and hugged him tight, the happiest she (and he) had be in a long, long time.


	4. Memory

Julia ran frantically through the house, her small bare feet padding against the marble. Looking hectically for a place to hide from what she knew was bound to come, she yanked open doors hoping for some trace that a person was inside.

"Remus!" She whispered, pulling open a cupboard in the hallway and searching it. "Remus, please, where are you?" she closed the door and ran up the stairs nearby, tripping in her hast.

Julia was in a panic. She had no where to hide, not even knowlege of her teamates whereabouts.

"Twenty eight, twenty nine, THIRTY! Ready or not, here I come!" the all-to familiar voice yelled gleefully.

"Sirius! Remus! Peter!" She whispered again, flying down another hallway, a bedroom door swung open right in front of her, and she fell on her butt.

"Ow! Who-?"

It was Remus and Peter. They each grabbed a hand and pulled her inside James's old bedroom.

"Hide, quick!" Remus shoved her into the closet, ignoring her yell of protest that he knew was bound to give them away, and tucked and rolled under the bed. Peter dashed behind the drapes.

It was only a moment before the bedroom door opened slowly, eerily.

James tsk'ed the friends he knew where hiding in his room.

"You forgot, I spent nine years of my life here. I know this room inside," he stepped to the window and threw back the drapes, "and out! Tag, got you, Pete!"

Peter stamped his foot. "Why does everyone always find _me? _I'm good at hiding!"

Remus chuckled, emerging from under the bed. "No you aren't, Peter. Sirius is the best, though. Where is he? Julia, you too," he called. "you can come out now."

In responce, Julia knocked hard on the closet door and gave a muffled shout.

James looked at Remus curiously, then his widened in remembrance of what he'd put in the old closet.

It was actually the reason his mother changed his room from this old one. He leapt to the door and threw it open.

Julia toppled out, her sweater falling over her head and her skirt flying to her hips. Standing up and wiping the dirt and _ash _from herself, she stared hard at her cousin.

"I don't know what that was, James Potter," - he opened his mouth, but she covered it with her hand. "and I never do. Just never," she looked at all three of them, "_ever _put me in that closet again."

James stepped back and laughed, a little nervously, a little because he found almost everything to have humor. "Okay, Julia hates closets. Got it. Now, where's Sirius?"

"You didn't find him?" Julia asked, taken aback.

James shook his head, and they split up to find the boy. Peter and Remus went downstairs, to check the dining room, kitchen, living rooms, and foyer, James went down a seperate hall way to check the guest rooms, and Julia went outside to check the green room and garden.

After ten minutes of looking and shouting Sirius's name, Julia rested against a tall oak tree.

"Well, wherever he is, I'm sure he's happy." She joked to herself.

"Actually," I voice called, jumping down from the tree above her and landing feet from where she stood making her scream in surprize. "The Potter Residence has some very rude squirrels!"

"Hiding outside is cheating, jerk!" she shoved him backwards, and he fell over and tripped her with his ankles.

They layed there for a while, in a tangle of limbs, before they were called inside for snacks fixed by James's mother. Of course, she tripped him on their way there, too...

Waking up suddenly by a baby crying in the next room, Julia wasn't sure if she'd had a dream, or a nightmare.


	5. Uncle Remmy & Harry

Julia moved slowly out of her bed to quiet the baby, but when she entered the hallway Remus was already pushing open Harry's door. With his hightened senses, (the full moon was close) Remus heard her door creak slightly. He turned and saw her in her doorway.

"I got it," he whispered as Harry's cries grew more frantic. Julia nodded sleepily, and went back to bed.

"There, there," Remus cooed to the baby, picking him up gently. "Uncle Remmy's got you. It's okay."

He sat down in the rocking chair next to the crib, and moved back and forth for a few moments. Harry, being the unbelievibly good baby he is, stopped crying within minutes. He reached up and pulled on Remus's ear with his tiny fist.

"Ow," Remus chuckled, and held the baby back to look at him. "You know, Harry, it truely is remarkable how much you look like James." Remus had seen many pictures of his friend at Harry's age, and they could've been twins... if Harry wasn't his son, that is.

Harry gurgled shook his fists.

"Do you miss them? I do," Remus said quietly. He and Julia tried their best to never bring up what had happened to the young boys' parents, but he could feel it in the air. "Harry, do you realise how gone they are?" He could feel his eyes stinging. Built up for almost three months, he couldn't stop it.

Not that he tried to.

Harry was quiet now, listening with surprising intensity. "You'll never see them again. And neither will I. Or your aunt... They're gone. They're not coming back, because they're gone. And," Remus looked away, to a picture on the wall, angry tears making their way slowly down his cheeks. "It's _your _fault!"

Julia had burned him out of all of their pictures, not wanting to throw away ones of Lily and James, but Remus could still feel Black's horrible grin and his arm around his shoulders on their graduation day.

Remus put Harry back in his crib as lightly as he could muster, and cleaned himself up in the washroom.

"Julia," He pushed open her door and whispered into the semi-dark room.

"What is it? Is Harry still crying?" She started to get up, but he crossed to her suddenly and sat with her on the bed.

"Julia. We need to stop ignoring them being gone."

She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head.

"Remus, I can't do this. Not now, at four in the morning... I just... I can't. Please, please respect that." and she started to get back under her covers.

"Julia."

He said her name quietly, but he didn't whisper. She knew he was seeing through her, right through her.

She missed James and Lily so much, it was a constant pain in her chest.

"We need sleep," she said thickly. " We have a meeting with Dumbledore at noon." she pushed back her blankets and laid down on her pilllow. Remus sighed and made for the door.

"Remus?" She asked, sitting up. He was already in the hallway, but he heard her and reentered her room.

"Yes?"

"I... I don't want to be alone. I had a dream. About when we were kids. Playing hide-and-go-seek at James's... Remember doing that every summer? You, me, James, Peter, and-" she choked, and he immediatly understood.

He crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and he felt her tears on his shirt.

"I won't leave you," he whispered into Julia's hair.

"Ever."

**Cheesy ending much? God, I feel so sappy right now... Well, did _you _like it? ****That's all that matters. REVIEW! :D**


	6. Lucy

**Surprise. Another backstory chapter! I like writing these, I feel like I can use them later... Sorry if you don't like them. :( Review and let me know! **

**(This chapter isn't very cheerful, by the way... Again, sorry!)**

Julia blinked in the sunlight streaming through the window. Someone's arm was around her waist, holding on to her.

Not remembering what happened earlier this morning, she turned her head to see Remus laying next to her, snoring lightly. He was pale, and under his eyes were faint purple bags.

Then she had her 'ah-ha' moment and knew what was happening. She didn't dare move, knowing how badly he normally slept this close to full moon (it was tomorrow), so she lay in bed for a long while, simply looking at him.

Julia wondered silently, pushing her hair out of her face, if this is what it would be like waking up every morning had her sister not died young. A werewolf attack lead to her untimely death, and Remus had never let it go. Oh, it wasn't him who did it, but it proved he was an animal, with no feelings of remorse or guilt.

How someone can attack a six year old girl because her father wouldn't become a Death Eater, Julia would never understand. She would never get the bloody images of that night out of her memeory, either. When it happened, she didn't even know Remus was a werewolf.

"_Julia! Darling, call in your sister. It's way past her bed time, I haven't seen her. Sh's still playing outside." Martha Potter yelled to her oldest, blowing out the candles in the hall way._

"_Yes, mama!" Julia ran to the French Doors, and threw them wide open with all her might. "Lucy, come inside, time for - " She screamed. The sight that met her twelve-year-old eyes was horrific. _

_Her six year old sister, Lucy, lay at the feet of a giant werewolf. Her middle was bleeding, and her clothes torn. She wasn't moving. _

_The monster looked up, and groweled. _

"_DADDY!" Julia yelled, slamming both doors shut and stumbling for her father. _

_Joe Potter was already at the scene, wand drawn, having heard his daughter's first yell, shouting_

"_Baby, what is it?" _

"_Werewolf! Lucy!"_

_He grabbed Julia's arm and shoved her twards the fire place. "Floo Uncle Harold's! Go over there with Mommy, tell my brother to come here! NOW, JULIA!"_

_Martha grabbed her daughter's hand and wiped her tears. Her husband tore open the French doors and blasted his way to his youngest._

"_Come on, baby. It's okay." Trying to give words of incouragment was useless, but Julia's mom tried anyway. They floo'd over to Harold's, where Martha ran for her brother-in-law._

_James was in pajamas, rubbing his eyes. _

"_Ju?" he asked, startled by seeing his cousin crying on his couch at nine at night. "What-?"_

_His mother called him in and explained. There had been an attack. Dad left to help Uncle Joey. Lucy is hurt, bad. Help Julia, she's scared._

_But James couldn't help his cousin. He only sat next to her, in complete shock. _

_At almost one, Harold floo'd back to his living room. _

"_She's at St. Mungo's. It... It doesn't look good."_

_The family worked their way to the healers, had coffee in the waiting room, let Julia and James try to sleep, and finally were allowed to see Lucy. _

_Julia walked up to her little sisters bed, and touched her shoulder. _

"_Lu?" she asked. _

_The six year old's eyes fluttered open. "Ju?"_

_Julia held back tears, hating crying in front of her sister. She was the tough one and they both knew it. _

"_Ju, so scared... Not even time to scream," she spoke softly, and coughed. Red stuff -blood, Julia realized with a shock- flew out of her mouth._

_Their mother pushed Julia back, and grabbed her baby's hand. "Lucy, mama's here. Mommy and Daddy are here."_

_Her father was pushing her bangs off of her forehead, and kissed her carefully and lightly._

"_Lucy in the sk-y with di-amonds," James sang quietly under his breath. He was by no means a singer, but it is the song his younger cousin was named for, and it was her favorite. She thought the world described sounded beautiful, magical even. A perfect place._

"_Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your he-ad, look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone..." Julia joined in, letting her tears spill over. Her aunt hugged her close._

"_Lucy? Lucy, honey, open your eyes. Open them for mommy. Lucy. Lucy!"_

Julia went to the bathroom- mindful to be quiet, to let Remus sleep- and wiped her eyes.

She thought of Dumbledore's meeting, and went to wake Harry.


	7. Neighbors

**So...**

**I've seen on my ratings that a lot of people have read this story, but hardly any have reviewed. :(**

**Guys, I started this account to become a better writer, so I really appreciate reviews telling me ways to improve my writing style or what is good to put in a story. **

**Plus, I have no idea what you guys like or want to see more of! Is the Julia/Remus thing to cheesy? Do you want me to just get to where Harry's older? (you best, because that's happening super soon!)**

**Seriously, please review! :)**

**(I hope you don't mind, this takes place shorty after the meeting with Dumbledore. I get nervous writing him, I think he's someone we all keep really close to our hearts, and I don't want him to say something he _wouldn't _say.) anyway, I introduce two more of my own characters in this (Seeing as it _is_ sort of my own universe.) Keep in mind, EVERYONE in Harry Potter has a back story. **

**Wow, sorry, long author's note... Sorry =S**

**Here we go!**

The room was uncomfortably crowded, with people bustling and refreshments floating above heads. The noise was loud, even in the absence of music, the rumble of excited voices laughing and cheering and clapping bouncing from all corners of the area. The place was completely unfamiliar to the three people trying to conceal themselves in a dark corner of the magically enlarged tent used for such events.

Julia agitatedly adjusted the sleepy boy in her arms, shifting him from one hip to the other.

"Bloody hell!" she finally hissed to Remus. "It's getting late! We just bought a house, not like we did anything important to these people!"

"Well, maybe _we _didn't!" He ruffled Harry's hair and grinned. "Come on, Julia. The neighborhood is really honored we chose to raise _The Boy Who Lived_ here, around their children."

"Maybe Dumbledore was right, we should raise him in a Muggle place where no one knows us-" she muttered more to herself than her friend.

But just then, another party goer popped up (despite their attempts to hide from people, having been swarmed by a mob when they arrived to their _own _"surprise party", Harry made it fairly obvious who they were- _everyone _knew his face) and she locked eyes with Harry, who hid his face in his aunt's side after hours of meeting other crazy people.

"Oh, oh! The Boy Who – bless you, child! thank ya', thank ya', m'child! Thankin' ya' kindly!" She reached out and kissed Harry's head. Her hair was the color of wheat, and was very messy. She hid it under a garden hat that was very large and looked as though it had been around since before she was born, a side of it was syngd slightly. Her clothes looked a bit to big for her little body, and had occasional patches covering holes that wore over time. Her eyes were a dark chocolate, with blood shot rims and the skin below them was yellowing and drooping slightly.

Remus glanced sideways at Julia, who couldn't do anything but stare at the women.

She stopped petting Harry long enough to smile broadly at Remus and Julia long enough to say "M'name's Henrietta McDovett, m'lady and m'lordship, and I'm so very pleased to be meetin' ya!" With a regal bow to the pair of them and Harry, she laughed loudly and crazily, like a women driven mad, almost, and yanked a small boy over by his collar. "This is m'son, Tobius. He's a young'un, too, be nine in the fall. Don't see him defeatin' any Dark Wizards, do we!" she laughed loudly again, hitting her son on the back. Tobius kept his eyes locked on his torn up socks, no shoes being on his feet.

"Ma," he mumbled in a matching accent, "They don't want to talk to anybody right now, 'specially us. C'mon, let's be off."

"We don't mind, Tobius, always happy to meet people," Remus said warmly, smiling at the boy.

He looked up at him and they saw his rough face clearly. Dirt was on his cheek and in his hair, but his hair feather-like was also the color of dirt, which made it hard to tell if it was an illusion or not. And when he smiled, he was missing a tooth just to the left of his front ones. His clothes hung loosely off of his little frame.

"Call me Toby, sir," he grinned.

Henrietta had regained her composure, and clung to Remus's shoulder.

"We really appreciate what yer boy did fer the world, ya know!" she was staring straight into Remus's eyes. He leaned back slightly away from her touch, eyes wide. "Terrible, terrible that man was. My husband - my – my -" her arm started to shake, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before continuing "he'll be home any day now, I'll be bettin'!" and she laughed her crazed laugh again, and with another kiss for Harry, she wandered off, almost blindly, limping slightly to the left.

When Julia and Remus looked at the boy for an answer, he smiled sadly. "Me dad, ya see. They thought he was on_ their_ side. Been helping 'em kill people." his chest swelled up, big and proud. "But we know it ain't true. Can't be, me dad wouldn't never harm no body. Carted him off to Azkaban, no trial or anythin'. He been gone a few years now, three on the twenty-third o' next month. We reckon he'll be back now, the _real_ bad guys bein' caught an' all. I've been the man o' the house while he's been gone, Ma's about lost her head without 'im."

"How very brave of you, Toby." said Julia, her heart aching for the small family.

"It ain't been easy, Miss," he said, shaking his head, "but I think we been gettin' along fine."

She reached down and ruffled his hair, and a slight cloud of dirt rose around his head for a moment, and fell to his shoulders. "When your father gets back, I'm sure he'll be very proud of how grown up you've been and all you've been doing for your mom."

"Thank ya, Miss, kindly." he smiled again at them, and said, "Well, I best be off. Gotta find Ma 'fore she gets herself into some trouble." and he wandered off in the direction his mother had gone.

"How sad. You know we _have _to help them." Julia remarked to Remus.

He nodded, but was frowning. "McDovett? I remember hearing about him, his name is Daryl." his eyebrows furrowed together "they didn't have much against him. Nothing, really."

"That's awful. He-" but another family was approaching them, a women leading. She was tall, with white-blonde hair that reached her waist. Her skin seemed to be glowing. Or maybe it was the clothes, she was wearing bright yellow, matching the man she was with, the same shade of blonde hair reaching his shoulders. His arm was around her shoulders, and hers were holding an infant close to her chest (wrapped in a yellow blanket, no less). _*****_

"Later," he whispered, and she nodded.

Julia was hugged Remus around the middle, her eyes shining bright.

"Okay, the neighbors are a little bit whacky, but Merlin, Remus, this house is amazing!"  
Remus had drawn up the plans for it to be built- a three story, triangular shaped place. The stairs went up the walls in zig-zags, being a very tall-ceilinged house. It gave it a cool look; neither of them had seen a house like it.

Harry's room was on the second floor, with his own wash room and a guest room for friends when he gets older. Julia and Remus's rooms were on the third floor, across from each others, with their own wash room's inside them. The ground floor was complete with a kitchen, a dining room, and a sitting room.

A garden was out in the back, and a broom shed was sitting by the back porch. Wild flowers grew all around the house in a country-livin' way that was very classy. A new fence was up around the property, just reaching the Apparation point. Large circular stones let from the fence gate to the front door, and the grass was a yellowing color, not dying yellow, but a wheat-like color. Trees sprouted up almost randomly, but each had a short 1/5 of a meter tall boarder fence around them with soil around the base of the trunks.

A concealed hatch was inside the broom shed that led down into a cellar that Julia and Remus could charm to lock easily. It was about 20 meters below the ground, and was sound proofed with some easy wand-work. It was perfect for full moons.

The inside of the house was very beautifully decorated by Julia; Harry's room was a light blue with clouds painted on the ceiling, baby toys and games already scattered about, Remus' was soft browns and golds, has wall to wall bookshelves, already filled, and her own was burnt oranges, with a poster of the Chudley Cannon's up on her door (she didn't care how childish it was, they were her favorite team).

"It's perfect," he said, hugging her back.

If he could, he would live in this moment forever.

**I seriously hope you guys like this. I had a lot of fun dreaming up the Dovetts. **

***In case you can't tell, it's the Lovegood's. Julia picked the neighborhood that they and the Weasley's live in. [Weird coincidence, huh?... ;) ] I figured they would wear yellow on such a joyous occasion.**

**And I hope you like the Dovett's. I got the name Tobius from _Sweeney Todd. _I hope to do more with them! (Not make them the focus, but I mean other people exist in the Wizarding World. Plus, I think Harry could use a big brother like Toby)**

**I hope to join the Weasleys and Potter/Lupins soon! I just love them, and want to do them justice, so I'm figuring out how to work them in without being tacky and predictable.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


End file.
